Henry Connelly

Henry Connelly (1800-12 August 1866) was Governor of New Mexico from 4 September 1861 to 6 July 1866, succeeding Abraham Rencher and preceding Robert Byington Mitchell.

Biography
Henry Connelly was born in Spencer County, Kentucky in 1800, and he received a medical degree from Transylvania University in 1828. He ran a medicine store in Liberty, Missouri during his time in college, and he became a merchant on the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico. During the Mexican-American War, he negotiated the bloodless surrender of Santa Fe to the United States, and he was elected Governor of New Mexico in 1850; however, he did not assume office, as the Compromise of 1850 prevented the state legislature from having any power. In 1861, Connelly was elected Governor of New Mexico as a US Democratic Party member, serving one five-year term, which saw the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad through New Mexico. Connelly died of an opium overdose in 1866, just a month and six days after leaving office.